Mama Share Mondays-Potty Training

These tidbits I want to share today are from my experience only, which means that there are plenty of ways to teach your children.  Please share your own personal experiences and if you are getting ready to teach your children, then by all means glean from these experiences.

• Naked training was a great tool I used with my own daughter.  She didn't really catch on to the sensations of urinating and pooing until she was nude.
• If you don't naked train, use regular training underwear or underwear.  Pull ups are essentially a glorified diaper and most children don't see a change in feel and use them as a potty.
• LOTS of praise.  When I say lots, I mean it!  Especially little ones, they love knowing that they can get you excited and like to "perform".
• Teach them young.  If you see that they are showing any signs.  Try to ease them in.  Children are less emotionally resistant when they are little, whereas after 3 they can speak their mind and refuse to do what you ask.
• Incentive-I went to the dollar store and bought tons of stickers for my daughter. That was a great way to give her something special without doling out candy all day.  You can pick something that you think will motivate you little one.
• Ask them to go potty frequently.  Every ten minutes to twenty minutes for sure.  Watch them for cues that they need to go.
• Be CONSISTENT.  If you do this half-hearted, don't expect your child to be Gun ho about it and just do it.  You need to follow through until he/she knows how to go potty.
• Try to put your child on the toilet without the pressure of training at first.  Some children fear the potty and so they don't want to get on it. I put mine on the potty many times as a game at first.  I showed her that I went on it and put her on it to get a feel of what it was like.  I let her get down when she wanted.
• Practice makes perfect!
• Don't be lazy.  By that I mean, once they have it down at home, try to go somewhere close to home without a diaper on.  Bring extra underwear and clothing just in case.  Let your child get used to knowing they need to use the potty.
• Lastly, HAVE FUN!

Potty Training

So, I've been thinking about subjects to write about lately to get the juices flowing again. Not blogging for awhile can do that to you! One subject I've read about lately and talked about is potty training.

I'm not about to say I'm an expert on this, I'm not about to tell you how to do it. I think what I want to write about is personal experience. Primarily when it comes to the child. My daughter is a first born and pretty headstrong. I had wondered often what it would be like to potty train my first. Would she be difficult and take a long time? Would she be afraid? Would she regress at all?

I think most first time mama's really start to get nervous when major milestones are approaching. There's so many variables. So and so did this, such and such happened with this one's child, etc. The number one thing I would say to any mom being nervous about any milestone or teaching step is that you know your child better than anyone!

You know how they react to certain things, you know how to calm them if they do react, and you know how to coax them when needed. I've known people that try and potty train at a year old and some that wait until 3 years old before even beginning. Why I chose to potty train my daughter and when was a personal preference for both my daughter and I.

She seemed to be ready around the time I started training her. She knew what was going on down there and started being ready for diaper changes fairly quickly. I didn't want her to be afraid or think that I was just forcing her to go all of the sudden so I started making a game out of putting her on the toilet with no expectation. My step-son, whom I didn't potty train, was terribly afraid of the toilet and the water and wasn't poop trained until he was 4 years old. I didn't want my daughter to be scared. She enjoyed the time sitting on the pot with a book and thought it was fun.

I bought underwear instead of pull ups because in my mind, they are glorified diapers. They are convenient when you want to rush out the door or have to be doing something in the car, etc. but, I didn't want to use them for training. I bought the thick training underwear and put them on my daughter. I took her to the bathroom about every 20 minutes and still she would wet or go poo in the underwear.

It was time to change tactics after that. I think that if you get stuck or something isn't working, change it up and see how your child responds. I went to the dollar store and bought stickers for my daughter's reward. I'd heard of candy as reward but, my daughter wasn't even two and she wasn't getting candy every day. I had heard about naked training through a friend that did it with her boys and it worked well with them. Off went her underwear and I stayed up on taking her often and asking her. She wasn't very verbal at the time but, she would get a certain look on her face when she had to go and would say "ew" to me. With the naked training, she was able to feel the sensations of going and wonder what to do with it. When I saw those signals, I would take her quickly to the bathroom. When she saw that she went to the bathroom and got a sticker, she was excited and starting putting the pieces together.

Over a few weeks time, she was completely potty trained including leaving the house. It can be done with patience and if you have a very head strong child, sometimes you have to change tactics. Sometimes you have to be patient and do a lot of coaxing but, don't be discouraged! It's a rewarding task to help your child to learn and grow and it's rewarding to have them out of diapers!!